Magical ranking system? Does your story have one?

Just curious.

Questions:

  1. Is there a category for the types of magic wielders? What are they?

  2. What type of magical ranking is it? Numbers, letters, or words?

  3. What would the highest rank look like versus what the lowest rank looks like in the magical ranking system?

  4. Depending on the ranking, what can the magic wielder more of or less of?

  5. Where does the main character of your story fit in the ranking system? High? Low? Has the character “broke” the system?

  6. Is there discrimination in the ranking system? Who hates who the most? Which succeeds and reign supreme? Which fails and falls short?

  7. Where do people with power and status rank? Where do people lacking power and status rank?

Bonus Question:

  1. Is the system benefiting the world or do people want to change?

  2. Is your magical ranking system inspired by another’s or no?

  3. Anything else you want/need to share pertaining to the magical ranking system in your fictional world?

The Quiliipoth, a group of ten of the most destructive and powerful witches on the face of the planet

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Sounds like a metal band, not gonna lie.

:sweat_smile:

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@TheTigerWriter
@NotARussianBot
@alenatenjo
@AMMeyers
@SecretDurham
@lowarlo

Sorry, for the bother.

Never really thought about this tbh. I guess there would be “none”, “minor”, “normal”, “major”, “idis”

Words apparently. Making this up as I go :joy:

Highest is God-level power

Lowest is no magic

Depends on the species, their abilities, inherited magics, etc

Highest and absolutely

No idea

No idea

System doesn’t really have any impact on the world

I have no idea

I am making this up as I go because rankings aren’t really a thing in my stories. You either have magic, don’t have magic, or have WAY too much magic.

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In Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound, the Kattaluna race doesn’t have a magick ranking system, so I have nothing to say about them or Pinti. But Sorcerers do come out in the story as important characters, so I’ll talk about them instead.

Sorcerers have Arch, Professor, Scholar, Junior, and Apprentice. Highest to lowest.

You will notice these look like school system-related rankings and that’s because it was created by scholarly authorities and rank in Sorcerer society is heavily based on school and learning.

Not all Professors become Archs. That’s the highest level they can become, but it is extremely hard to get there. There’s only been five in the 800-year history of Elgana so far, and most became Archs recently. The title of Arch can only be offered by scholarly authorities. There’s no test or anything to pass.

Not all Scholars become Professors either. It’s not a mandatory rank to achieve. Professor level, as the name suggests, does allow the Sorcerer to teach other Sorcerers in a school setting. Although not all Professors get into teaching. Some spend their entire lives creating new spells and writing books, or they might get into other jobs like swordstry (a type of sword-making with an added magical enhancement).

School for young Sorcerers goes from Apprentice to Scholar. After that, if they want to achieve higher, they can.

Depends on how much they’ve learned from Scholar and up. For Apprentice, they can only advance to the second year of Apprentice if they develop their faud which is the manifestation of their magick. This signals to the school body that the Sorcerer has control over their magick and can take on more complicated or delicate spells.

Sorcerer society is about competition. Constant competition with everything, not just who is in what rank, and that’s their strange way of showing love and friendship. Even ridicule. Sorcerers are always berating each other using flowery language and this is seen as a healthy part of competition. If you can’t take being called names, how can you live in society? is what they think.

In more recent years, this practice begins to change.

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Half and half :sweat_smile: As I said, Sorcerers LOVE competition, but this means that those who are physically or mentally incapable of falling into the stereotypical “competitive, mean, and tough Sorcerer”, get ostracized. And they can’t do anything about it and are too afraid to speak out. But many want to change.

And it does gradually change :wink:

Not that I know of :stuck_out_tongue:

I came up with how many years and what kind of tests each rank needs to pass to achieve the next. I came up with all the details about the tests and what happens if they fail and how many times they can redo the test.

I also came up with what kind of privileges exist for each rank if any.

I had fun :stuck_out_tongue:

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Their debut album is Tree of Death, coming this winter :wink:

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Hello! No worries, it’s no bother, thank u for the summons! Curious about your own answers, too.

Actually just started re-working my magic system, tweaking some things and changing some of the lore so this’ll be a brilliant exercise to help establish that!

No??? I’m iffy about this one.

So, there aren’t categories per-say, but how someone is able to use magic is usually dependent on their baser-element. This baser element is decided by environment, time of year, etc.

An example: Someone’s base-element is fire. So, they usually things relating to fire to cast magic. They may carry around a flint and stone in their pocket, a box of matches, a candle, torch, etc. They draw energy from the fire and use it as a sort of conduit to cast magic. A fire-based elemental user would have a harder time casting specific types of magic that are reliant upon other elements. Like, they may not have a hard time conjuring a gust of wind, but they would have a hard time conjuring a tide or gush of water. Certain magics, particularly combat, are where they shine and are most proficient.

However, this is more-so to do with how they’re able to amplify/use magic, not how they’re separated. Like, fire-based elementals can conjure more powerful fire-spells, but it’s not impossible for someone else to do this.

As for social separation, there are sanctioned and unsanctioned magic users. Since magic is pretty much banned and forcibly nullified, only a select few are chosen who are able to wield magic. Their purpose is mostly for healing and they are considered almost like a nun with a strict rule set. Unsanctioned magic users are separated inso fact they have no permission to use magic and have illegally removed the device meant to nullify it–they usually live in hiding.

Numbers! I may change this later as this is more or less to make it more simplistic to myself. The system is 1-6, with six being the best and one being the worst.

There have only been about 3 sixth-level magic users in recent history as magic is very difficult to work with.

Someone who is sixth level would have to have an iron, unbreakable will. They would have to have complete and utter belief in their capabilities and a strong awareness of their own strengths/weaknesses. They would not only have to be physically capable of casting magic (as a lot of spells require you to move about, it’s also physically exhausting), and have a keen knowledge on spells, rituals, etc. Someone who is a sixth level would probably have a 20+ year education background up their sleeve and be able to conjure monsoons and stuff.

Someone who is first level is, to be quite frank, kind of dangerous. First-level sanctioned magic users, if they’re unable to learn/get better are forced to nullify their magic again. This is someone who is weak-willed, not secure in their abilities, and is unaware of their strengths/weaknesses. Most importantly, they have zero education and have no idea what they’re doing. It’s basically someone who could shout “HOOGITY BOOGITY” why waving their arms and instead of conjuring flame (which is a base spell, super easy to cast) they would conjure a whole fire storm and kill everyone. They’re a novice, though, so most move past this level. Some never do and probably never will.

Well, spells and rituals for example, there are some that require you to not only have a good knowledge of what you’re doing but also the purpose behind what you’re doing.

Base spells are like knock something over with a gust of wind, light a candle, move something from here to there (telepathy). Why bigger spells are considered stuff that can turn you invisible, healing magic, and ofc the OP spells like summon storm or hurricane–though these are oft. not used.

Societally, a higher-level sanctioned magic user has far more rights than the lower-leveled ones. They’re able to go outside and live relatively peaceful lives, though they’re still watched constantly and kept track of. A lower-level magic user would not be able to go anywhere without an escort and they would most likely be dictated by whomever they lived under (usually someone of the church, like a mother/father).

My main character is actually “zero” which basically just means “everyone else”. Their magic is completely nullified, and they’ve never used it. If it were to become un-nullified they’d start at the bottom with everyone else. They have an iron will but lack a proper identity within themselves so with some training they’d maaaaaybe make it to third level, and that’s being generous. After some character development, they may climb to higher level.

Kind of, but this is a bit complicated.

Magical “levels” are defined by capability, will, and education–so there’s no discrimination. If some lord’s daughter is chosen to become a magic user but is shit at casting it, then she gets first level. If a peasant’s daughter is chosen and is grand, she gets the level she deserves. This is only because not distinguishing properly can lead to epic amounts of problems. If they could discriminate I’m sure they would.

The part where it gets complicated is magic itself. Magic is meant to be inherit in everybody, as in, they all can cast it. But this huge thing happened a couple thousand years ago which corrupted magic (which is considered an element) making it dangerous for people to both cast magic and resist casting magic (basically made them super sick and die). The solution to this was to nullify magic in everyone, making it impossible to use. Fast forward, and magic has naturally somewhat repaired itself. The upper nobility see this as an opportunity to introduce magic for practical uses (mostly healing). Which is where you get the sanctioned/unsanctioned users.

Sanctioned users are feared but also considered holy, because of their purpose/place in the church. They’re respected.

Non-sanctioned users are feared and considered unholy, they are illegally (without training/education anything) using magic. They are hunted down and executed.

Some change is the general consensus. Magic is still very taboo and most people consider it not only sinful to use without permission but straight-up dangerous (and they’re partially right about the latter).

However, hunting people down and executing them? Meh. Not really anybody’s idea of “right”.

Edit: Forgot to add that these are mostly the rules for my setting as well. In other countries, magic isn’t so controlled and commonplace in some areas. But it is monitored and all those who use it have to go through a registry system. But, overall, it’s no biggie. Helps that they have actual education systems in place, lol.

Yes! ATLA and DND mostly.

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Keep on answering.
I shall return to answer yours and possibly place my own.

:blush:

There are three types of magic. Petty magic, pelomantil (combat magic) and saintly magic. None of these types are monoliths.

Petty magic is the most common. It includes village witches/wizards who use magic for everyday purposes such as navigation, harvest and midwifery, holymen who perform healings, blessings and religious rituals, and sages who are academics. It’s centred around living beings like humans, animals and plants. They cannot kill directly.

Pelomantil is less common. They are recruited into armies and royal courts. They are deadly. They can wield natural forces and cause a lot of damage. They can also be beneficial; they are used in defence, and one platoon is notable for making ships fly. Most of them undergo training in a special academy.

Saintly magic is the magic of the universe. It gives the user the ability to influence all of nature including time and space. Only four sorcerers in existence held this power. This power has been lost.

There are hierarchies in some instances. Such as master and acolyte or apprentice. Progression depends on skill and time spent practicing. But progression is quite nebulous. There aren’t power levels.

I don’t have a ranking system, so I’ll go by social prestige. The highest “rank” at the moment is a god-queen who is worshipped by thousands. She was once a Saint. Though she’s lost most of her magical powers, she holds hard and soft political power. The lowest would be an apprentice in an academy because they wouldn’t have serviced their community yet.

More magic?

[quote=“qualeshia3, post:1, topic:13929”]
Where does the main character of your story fit in the ranking system? High? Low? Has the character “broke” the system? [/quote]
He’s outside of it, because he has an entirely different type of magic with the potential to destroy the universe.

Pelomantil users are feared, and hated in some regions. They live in the fringes of society, but they get backed by kings and lords so it’s not that bad.

Highborn sorcerers are usually well trained. If they use petty magic, some of them end up in academia or become court advisors. Others become adventurers. If they use pelomantil, they do martial duties. A vast majority of lowborn sorcerers are village witches/wizards with informal training.

While magic has historically benefitted the world, and still continues to benefit, more and more people are becoming opposed to it. They feel that magic has done more harm than good, especially after the Wars of the Saints fifty years ago which literally tore the continent apart and brought the death of entire cities. The sages are pushing to rediscover the magic of the Saints, but there’s internal conflict as to whether they should. Plus, there’s a lot of politics around pelomantil, with a number of recent high-profile assassinations and concerns about one kingdom having a monopoly on that magic. Sorcerers are being roped into doing political bidding, and that hasn’t gone well in the past.

I’m not sure. The Wheel of Time is an influence.

Ranks don’t matter. Magic destroys the universe at the end anyway.

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Some do some dont. Really a ranking comes with battles.

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No ranking system as such…

It’s something that any could adhere to if they learned the ways of it I guess… But it is those who desire it mostly who delve into it, and by delve I mean that it has consequences if used poorly…

There are few in Arillion who use Magic, and they use it lightly… For with magic, comes the greatest responsibility… When to use it, and when not…

“It may be for the greater good, but it can also bring about much darker things… And where that leads the user, all must fear…” Geldrid said to Hal-en as he passed his eye across the scrolls before him. “Put them away, and do not speak of these again. It is with secrecy that we will gain the upper hand, not darkness as our ally.”

SD

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